Researching Student Learning in Higher Education

Jennifer Case is a professor, with a particular focus on academic development, in the Department of Chemical Engineering at the University of Cape Town, South Africa.

• Part I: Setting the Scene 1. Contemporary Chellanges in Higher Education 2. Researching Student Learning: Accounting for structure and agency Part II: A Theoretical Framework 3. Critical realism as philosophical function 4. Realist Social Theiry: Archer's morphogentic approach 5. A Socialist Realist Perspective on Knowledge and Curriculum 6. Conceptualising Student Agency Part III: Developing a Case Study in Engineering Education 7. Geographical Context for the Study: Locating UCT Chemical Engineering 8. Disciplinary Context for the Study: Locating engineering education 9. Choosing Engineering 10. Studying Engineering- defining your project 11. Studying Engineering - engaging with others 12. Studying Engineering - the knowledge project 13. Conclusions for the Case Study Part IV: Drawing the Strands Together 14. A Social Realist Approach to Research on Student Learning

"There is much to be commended in this book and much to learn from it. In terms of audience, it is suitable for a wide range: established education researchers restless with their present theoretical frameworks and the questions they ask; post graduate and doctoral students starting out on Critical and Social Realist research, and anyone keen to engage more critically with what lies ‘beneath’ that which we take for granted. Besides the strength of a coherent argument and the logic of the structure which informs it, it is perhaps Case’s capacity to ‘walk the talk’ of theory and simultaneously integrate its application, that make this book the enlightening and valuable read it is." – Carol Thompson, Higher Education